


Enjoy the Silence

by Aria_i_Adagio



Series: Whatever I've Done - First Draft [3]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Memory Loss, mature is probably overkill, statistics is the least sexy of the maths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 09:25:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15240336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aria_i_Adagio/pseuds/Aria_i_Adagio
Summary: Pure fluffy, ever so slightly saucy, fluffiness to extend the end of Halcyon Nights.





	Enjoy the Silence

**Author's Note:**

> Yet again, title is taken from Depeche Mode.

Outside of the gate, the fields are dotted with fireflies and reverberate with the chirping and groaning of frogs. Above us, the sky glows with stars.  I pull the gate closed behind us, reach out, and put a hand on Julian's arm. “Stay awhile longer.” With everything up in the air, I want to keep him as close as much as I can manage; the time at Portia’s cottage wasn’t enough.

Julian smiles - an actual smile and not a smirk - before he scoops me up into an embrace and kisses me. “I hoped you say something like that,” he murmurs in my hair.  He lets me back down. My head barely reaches his chest.

With a flourish, he pulls of his cape and spreads it out in the ground.  I smother a giggle - good to know that ridiculous accessories can have practical functions.  He sits and pats the space beside him. Kneeling beside him, I lean over and kiss him, curling my fingers into his hair.  Working quickly, I undo the buttons of his jacket and push it off his shoulders, peeling his gloves off his hands as I do so. 

“Eager, aren't you?”

I bite my lip and nod. If anything I feel frantic, desperate for the warmth of the person beside me.  He cradles my face in his hands, them drags them slowly down, over my shoulders, arms, and waist before settling them on my hips.  I force myself to pause and drape my arms over his shoulders.

“I feel...” Even as a begun the sentence, the headache behind to coalesce behind my eyes. “I feel like this began a long time ago.”  The headache stabs through my temples as I finish the statement, and I can't stop myself from screwing up my face in pain.

“Dema?” Julian face is suddenly close to mine, peering as best in can in the low light, into my eyes. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“Just a headache.” I lean my forehead against his and focus on counting my breaths until the pain subsides. “I get them anytime I try too hard to remember before.”

Julian rearrange his long legs and then pulls me into his lap. “Before?”

I push aside his shirt - Why on Earth did the man wear a shirt that was missing all it's buttons? - and press the side of my face against his warm chest.  “I don't remember anything before three years ago.” 

“Nothing?”

“Nothing at all.”

“That's... It's not that I don't believe you, there are several weeks that are really hazy for me, but statistically speaking... Total amnesia is incredibly rare.”

“I guess I'm one in a million.” It's a weak joke, but he laughs and tightens his arms around me. I sigh.  “I think that the memories are there - somewhere - but to get to them I'd have to push past something awful. Something that might obliterate me, turn me entirely to ash.” The warmth from his body is suddenly too much. I lean back, letting the cool night air between us.  “You do believe me, right? I don't remember anything. I don't really even know if my name is my name.” I don't think Asra made up a name for me, but he certainly could have and I'd never have been the wiser.

“I believe you. Of course, I believe you.” His voice is rushed, as if trying to recant his earlier skepticism. “I'm, I'm sorry that I -”

I press my hand to his mouth. “It's okay. It sounds quite mad. But, we knew each other at some point. I guess during the weeks you call hazy.” I trail my fingers down his chin, letting them come to rest over the mark on his neck.

He stares at me in wonder. “How could I forget you?”

I shrug, then - deciding to change the tone of the conversation - smile and playfully swat the side if his face.  “Just don't do it again!”

“Hey!” He grabs my hands in his and immobilizes them at my sides before capturing my mouth with his.  I sink into the kiss letting it define the boundaries of my world until, too soon, one of us breaks for air.  Julian flops back on the ground, pulling me with him. His hands wander my back. One slides under my shirt and the grasps the curve of my ass.  Starting at his collarbone, I work my down his chest, leaving a trail of love bites that will disappear far too quickly. Reaching his waistband, I pause, then sit up and strip off my shirt.  My nipples react to the night air by becoming tighter than they already were. Julian, with a leer, reaches out and traces one aureole and then the other.

“Aww, are you cold?”  He grabs my arms and pulls me back down to him.  Held tight, bare chests pressed together, head tucked under his chin, I am utterly content.  This - simple physical contact, skin against skin - is what I want the most.

“Right now, I could stay like this forever.”

Julian laughs.  “Right now or forever?  But if this is what you want, darling, you can have it.”

~~~

“Dema, hey, Dema.” Julian's voice roses me from sleep.  It's still dark out, but the moon is high in the sky and the drugs have quit their chorus.  I kiss his collarbone drowsily and snuggle back under whatever fabric has been pulled across my back, probably his jacket. “C’mon, Dema, you shouldn't sleep outside all night. You'll catch cold or something.” Hypocrite. I suspect he's slept outside more than once without much in the way of deleterious consequences. Julian sits up, forcing me to do the same or slide off of him and into the ground.  I whine in protest and sit back on my heels.

“I know.” He finds my shirt in the ground next to us and drapes it around my shoulders. “I’d rather spend the rest of the night holding you. But it  _ is _ cold and damp out. I'm sure you've got a nice snug guest room in the palace. Nadia doesn't do hospitality by halves.”

“Where are you going?” I struggle into the shirt, the arms are twisted and inside out.

“You're pretty adorable half asleep.” He chuckles, takes the shirt from me, shakes it out, and helps me into it. “I'll go to Mazelinka’s for tonight.  And I'll wait for you there tomorrow. Whenever, that is, you can get away. I mean, it doesn't matter to me if takes awhile.”

I lean back against his shoulder. “Mmmm... Why I can't I just come with you now?”

“Someone should figure out what's going on in the palace.” He grabs my shoulders and stands, pulling me along with him. “Even if I would prefer to pick you up and bring you with me.”

He's right.  Yawning, I let him walk me back to the gate in the palace wall.  Before I can push the gate open, he leans over me and presses a kiss to my forehead and then each of my eyelids. “I'm not pushing you away again. Ever. I promise.” With that he spun me around and gives me a little shove through the gate.  No pushing away, eh?

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading.
> 
> I'm on tumbler as [Aria-i-Adagio](http://aria-i-adagio.tumblr.com)


End file.
